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History > Interdisciplinary study


In what ways do Single, Combined and Joint Honours degrees claim to be Interdisciplinary?


Single Honours

Language Tuition: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/admissions/languages/

  • Single Honour History Students are required to Language option in their first and second years.
  • This can be either, German, French, Italian and Spanish.
  • The language tuition provided is aimed at historians, the focus is on translation into English, and so students can use their language skills in the historical studies.
  • Students are required to pass a language exam in Years 1 and 2 and make use of their translation skills in assessed work in Years 2 and 3.

 

Single and Joint Honours Degrees

Making of the Modern World (HI153): http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/modules/hi153/aims/

Both Single and Joint honour degree students are required to take the core course, Making of the Modern World in their first year. The expected learning outcomes of this module include,

  • ‘Introducing students to a wide variety of approaches to the study of History.’
  • ‘Utilising interdisciplinary perspectives to deepen historical understanding.’


Timetable: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/modules/hi153/timetable/

Analysis of the topics studied in the module shows that there are a number of approaches taken to history including,

  • An artistic perspective in ‘Nature and the Environment’
  • A political perspective in ‘liberalism’, ‘nationalism’ and ‘socialism’
  • A philosophical approach in ‘Enlightenment, Revolution and Modernity’
  • An economic perspective in ‘The Wealth and Poverty of Nations.’

Each weekly topic has a skill attached to it, some of which are interdisciplinary in approach. These include: 'historical analysis of documents; statistics; literary writings; newspapers; feature film; documentary film; painting; architecture; artistic production; artefacts; photographs; philosophical texts; popular music; first person narratives; oral history; museums; memorialisation.'

Option Modules: Available for both single and joint-honours students

Modules for First Year Study: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/year_1_index/modules_1

Modules for Second Year Study: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/year_2_index/modules_2

Modules for Third Year Study: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/year_3_index/modules_3

Modules that are clearly interdisciplinary

  • History and the Novel
  • Caribbean Literature
  • Ireland 1848-1970: A Political and Social History.
  • American Historical Cinema
  • Politics, Literature and Ideas in Stuart England.

Some modules such that do not appear interdisciplinary also take such approach,

 


Joint Degrees


 History and Politics : http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/options/historyandpolitics

  • Claims to set ‘contemporary political problems in their historical perspective’.
  • It is not clearly stated how module combinations enable this.

History and Sociology : http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/options/historyandsociology/

  • This degree programme claims to allows students to explore, the approaches and methods used by historians and sociologists.
  • Claims to reflect a ‘convergence of interests’ among teaching staff at Warwick between ‘historically-minded sociologists’ and ‘sociologically-minded historians’.
  • Claims the combination of the core modules studied by History/Sociology students introduces the ‘conceptual, methodological and practical issues which arise from combining the two approaches.

 

French and History : http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/options/frenchandhistory/

  • Based in the French department.
  • The History department states, ‘is designed to enable students with an interest in France to study French History together with French literature, thought and culture’.
  • French and History: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/french/prospective/degrees/fh
  • this joint degree enables students to use both disciplines to gain a complete picture of the ‘Franco-world’ in both a ‘historical and contemporary perspective’:

History and Culture: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/options/h_culture/

  • The History and Culture degree allows to students to construct their own degree programme by combining a history module with modules from any of the Arts, a language or philosophy from the Social Science faculty.
  • The course is very flexible and therefore a basic outline of the joint degree is complex.
  • It means that History and Culture students can study their own unique curriculum.
  • It may be for this reason, that the history department web-pages are unclear to how students study their chosen disciplines in an interdisciplinary manner.
  • Most of the information given is rather about how to construct the degree..
  • Syallabus: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/undergraduate/options/h_culture/syllabus/
  • As advised on the Syllabus page, if students choose to study a language, it is strongly recommended that a first year option module for example should be taken in a module recommended by a language department. For example, Spanish students are advised to taken modules on Latin America.

Note: in all joint degree programmes, the individual disciplines will have their own interdisciplinary aspect. For example, as discussed many of the history modules ran by the history department have interdisciplinary aspects that effect how the module is taught and studied.

 

Combined Courses

History, Literature and Culture of the Americas

Undergraduate: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/cas/undergraduate/

  • The closest degree programme the History department offers to a combined course is History, Literature and Culture of the Americas.
  • This degree programme is administered by the School of Comparative American Studies (CAS).
  • This department may be described as a school of the History department; history students can take CAS modules as history modules (they are not considered outside, borrowed modules).
  • CAS school claim to offer a ‘multi-disciplinary study of this important region of the world.’

Undergraduate Modules: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/cas/undergraduate/modules/

  • Students can take literature, history and political based modules ran by the department combined with Spanish language.
  • This interdisciplinary approach works by students taking an interdisciplinary approach to the study of not a discipline but to their topic of the Americas.

Caribbean Literature: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/cas/undergraduate/modules/am101/details

  • Caribbean Literature examines the ‘complex web between literature and language…and how such fictional writing can provide an alternative perspective on matters such as history.'

Latin America: Themes and Problems: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/cas/undergraduate/modules/am101/details 

Latin America: Themes and Problems does not mention any interdisciplinary aspects in the outline of the module, the aims and objectives and learning outcomes.